


Murals in the Dark

by writingandchocolatemilk



Series: GerIta Oneshots [3]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Humans, M/M, Rome - Freeform, rome AU, slave AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:30:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3197153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingandchocolatemilk/pseuds/writingandchocolatemilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you miss your home?” Feliciano cut in, propping himself up and looking at Ludwig. “All the way in Germania?”</p><p>Ludwig steadily avoided his gaze and looked at the distant ceiling, eyes tracing the scene Feliciano had painted. How any times had he seen the same ocean port depicted with vivid detail? How many nights and early mornings? The ships coming into dock, the ropes and sails whipping wildly in the wind.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Do you miss your brother?”</p><p>Ludwig felt his throat tighten, even after all these years. “Yes.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Murals in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yescherryboomiero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yescherryboomiero/gifts).



“I can’t… Not anymore…”

It had been a peaceful morning before that. Feliciano usually sent the slaves away when Ludwig slept with him; besides a knock at the door to see if Feliciano was eating breakfast, it had been quiet. But now Feliciano was up and trying on his citizen’s toga.

“What do you mean?” Ludwig asked from the bed.

“Grandpa…” Feliciano fidgeted with his toga, wrapping and rewrapping it around his torso. “He said… Ah, could you help? You always do it best.” Feliciano trotted over to Ludwig’s side of the bed, holding his arms out and smiling.

Ludwig sat up and fixed the cloth, unconsciously rubbing the expensive material in between his fingers. There was a few moment of silence as Ludwig worked, wondering if Feliciano was going to finish his thought. When he was finished, Feliciano fell onto the slave, laying on top of him and sighing contentedly.

“Feliciano, I have to get up and work,” Ludwig said, making no move to sit up.

“You should come to the baths with me,” Feliciano laughed into Ludwig’s chest, arching his back like one of the cats that wandered around the villa. “You would like the exercise room.”

“I have to help arrange the furniture for that party your grandfather is holding. And then I have to organize the meals, and the… I really have to work. You can’t promote me and then expect me—“

“Do you miss your home?” Feliciano cut in, propping himself up and looking at Ludwig. “All the way in Germania?”

Ludwig steadily avoided his gaze and looked at the distant ceiling, eyes tracing the scene Feliciano had painted. How any times had he seen the same ocean port depicted with vivid detail? How many nights and early mornings? The ships coming into dock, the ropes and sails whipping wildly in the wind.

“Yes.”

“Do you miss your brother?”

Ludwig felt his throat tighten, even after all these years. “Yes.”

Feliciano rested his head on Ludwig’s chest once again. “You know, I could send you back there.”

Ludwig nearly chocked. “What?”

There was something painful and raw in the way Feliciano sat up and smiled. “Well, of course! I mean, with Grandpa being who he is, and with the trip to Britannia coming up, we could drop you off—I know you and Lovino don’t get along, and a lot of the slaves think I play favorites, and Grandpa was just telling me…”

Feliciano released a shuddering breath, turning his head. The sunlight caught the curve of his cheek, making his skin look like that of the marble statues scattered around the villa. “I could make you a freeman, Ludwig, and you could go home.”

Outside, the calls of the slaves to one another drowned out the birdsong. Somewhere in the back of Ludwig’s mind, he realized he would have to order the cook to start preparing for the feast later. One of Ludwig’s dogs—a gift from Feliciano—pawed at the door before wandering away.

What could Ludwig say? He felt the silence stretching on between them.

Finally, Ludwig managed a, “And you?”

Feliciano shrugged, his toga slipping down his shoulder. “Well, there are always plenty of slaves who would want to run the household! And… Well, Grandpa said it wasn’t respectable for someone like me to…. To be with _you_.” His eyes met Ludwig’s for a moment.

“Did Lovino—“

“Not everything is Lovino,” Feliciano sighed, shaking his head. “Grandpa,” he closed his eyes, laying his head back down on Ludwig’s chest. “I don’t want to go to the forum today. It’s a lot funner with you, because at least I can talk to you and you tell me interesting things that you’ve heard about people and you make me laugh. When it’s just me and Lovino…”

Ludwig ran his hand up and down Feliciano’s back.

“You know what I wish, Ludwig? I wish I could stay all day in bed with you. Grandpa could plan his own party and Lovino could go to the forum and it could just be us and people could bring _you_ food for once,” Feliciano grinned at his own ideas, “And I could sculpt you! And you could practice and sculpt me.”

Ludwig shook his head, smile creeping across his face. “That would be a true horror.”

“No!” A friendly shove. “You’re not so bad! I like when you write and draw and do poetry. It’s very…”

“Amateur.”

“Cute,” Feliciano corrected, shaking his head and laughing.

The sounds of the rest of the villa floated up to the pair. Lovino, somewhere in the distance, was yelling at one of the Gaulic slaves who had misheard the Latin orders. Ludwig’s dog returned to whimper at the door.

“One day, just one in bed…” Feliciano muttered. “I can’t do this again, with you.”

The sunlight had brightened enough where Ludwig could see the chips in the paint in the mural. How old had Feliciano been when he had painted it? The ships didn’t hold any Germanic slave boys and their brothers, just fruit and foreign animals. The waves weren’t nearly as blue as when the moonlight illuminated them.

**Author's Note:**

>  **For yescherryboomiero:** “I can’t… not anymore…”... usuk or gerita, you choose~


End file.
